illustration (attribution, if any possible, is at the end of the article)

Falling asleep during meditation?

"To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualised by myriad things. When actualised by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realisation exists, and this no-trace continues endlessly."
— Dōgen, Genjo-koan (first chapter of the Shobogenzo)

We're often critical of ourselves when falling asleep during meditation… but what is to celebrate is that we 'realised' it and woke up!

This waking-up was the manifestation of vigilance (i.e. self-monitoring), the realisation that we lost our object of mindfulness… i.e. this was the very training into catching ourselves when we drift! This was the moment we stopped drifting and were again mindful of the present! The moment we suddenly came back to "Wow! What's going on here?"

To study the Buddha Way is to study the self, not to judge the self. To study the self is to forget the self: forget "I'm a bad meditator", enquire 'into' reality, look at tendencies (without identifying with them), look at narratives (without identifying with them), look at causes and consequences, look at myriad things and how changing details can lead to a more wholesome life…